Martin hoping to make impact on Port Arthur Memorial football as freshman

By Jared Ainsworth

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, June 16, 2012

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Memorial's Kameron Martin will be a freshman in the fall and has a shot at being one of the team's starting running backs.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Memorial's Kameron Martin will be a freshman in the fall and has a shot at being one of the team's starting running backs.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Memorial's Kameron Martin will be a freshman in the fall and has a shot at being one of the team's starting running backs.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Memorial's Kameron Martin will be a freshman in the fall and has a shot at being one of the team's starting running backs.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Memorial's Brandon LeDay lifts weights at the school's field house on Thursday.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Memorial's Brandon LeDay lifts weights at the school's field house on Thursday.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Memorial Titans lift weights at the school's field house on Thursday.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Memorial Titans lift weights at the school's field house on Thursday.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Image 5 of 6

A countdown clock hangs in the hallway of Memorial's field house to indicate how long the Titan's have until they play Central High School.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

A countdown clock hangs in the hallway of Memorial's field house to indicate how long the Titan's have until they play Central High School.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Image 6 of 6

A countdown clock hangs in the hallway of Memorial's field house to indicate how long the Titan's have until they play Central High School.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

A countdown clock hangs in the hallway of Memorial's field house to indicate how long the Titan's have until they play Central High School.
Photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Martin hoping to make impact on Port Arthur Memorial football as freshman

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Forty-five pounds of dumbbells glided weightlessly across grass as Kameron Martin sprinted forward. A metal sled, strapped to his waist, slid behind with the dumbbells in tow.

"Look at him run," Port Arthur Memorial football coach Kenny Harrison said. "I'd have been in the pros if I could run like that."

The chiseled, 5-foot-9, 160-pound Martin is quick to mention he's been blessed with speed. And that he'd like to someday break Jamaal Charles' Port Arthur high school career rushing mark of 4,069 yards.

Four days per week Martin arrives at the Memorial field house at 7:15 a.m. and sometimes doesn't leave until 7 p.m.

"That kid is committed," Harrison said.

When Memorial's season starts Aug. 31 against Central, that 14-year-old is expected to be the first freshman to play a regular season game for the Titans, according to Harrison, who has coached in Port Arthur since before Memorial opened in 2002. Current senior defensive back Darius Lemora was moved up to varsity during the playoffs his freshman season.

Harrison said Martin will be in the running to see the field at several positions, including running back, receiver, defensive back and return specialist.

One reason Martin might play immediately is because in 2010 the University Interscholastic League began allowing middle school football players across the state to take part in high school summer workout programs. Coaches can put players through workouts, but sport-specific instruction is not allowed.

Martin, who started working out with the Titans prior to his seventh grade year, is one of nearly 170 players who show up daily. Approximately 65 of those are students from Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson middle schools.

Those numbers are far higher than when only 45 students showed up for summer conditioning in 2009, Harrison's first year as head coach.

"The kids are more prepared to have that opportunity to play on the varsity level coming in from middle school," said Harrison, who led Memorial to a 13-2 record and trip to the Class 5A Division II state semifinals last season. "It helps out tremendously. We have two middle schools running the same offense now. We have our middle schools on the same offseason program. We're just looking forward to reloading instead of rebuilding."